


Delicacy

by towards_morning



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Pre-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-05-15 00:17:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19284196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/towards_morning/pseuds/towards_morning
Summary: Starscream remained unimpressed by Megatronus' favourite, Orion Pax.





	Delicacy

**Author's Note:**

> A short piece made mostly to get me used to writing fic again after a years-long gap. Casual approach to TFP canon.

Starscream remained unimpressed by Megatronus' favourite.

Three times he had met Orion Pax now, and still Starscream could not see what, exactly, the middle-caste bot could offer to their cause. He lacked both guile and strength. Megatronus had the strength needed to get somewhere in the inevitable war, and Starscream had snuck his way through the ranks to offer guile- only to be confronted by a supposed favourite who lacked both, Pax unable to dissolve his own shortcomings one way or the other.

Despite that lack, Orion Pax remained. It galled the seeker. Both he and Megatronus knew very well that what was coming had no room for the kind of comfortable, eloquent deniability that Orion Pax displayed. Yet still, when Starscream came to worm his way into Megatronus' good books, Orion Pax stood in his way.

"Pax," said Starscream, one day when both he and Orion found themselves face to face. Starscream was in a foul mood, in no small part because Megatronus had told him that the council preferred to hear Pax's case over Starscream's, no matter his status as second to Megatronus. The familiar won out.

"Hello Starscream," said Orion. He had never quite managed to shake those middle caste manners, for all that Megatronus wished he would. Starscream knew he wished; Megatronus melted in Pax's presence, but he let it slide when Pax left and Starscream was there to ask more questions. Starscream got to start the important arguments, a thing he took pride in, frankly. Pax only got to be coddled. The fool, thought Starscream, looking at that delicate data-caste frame. He had the right idea but no sense of the execution required to really make it, if he would accomodate this kind of weakness. Pax had always been kind to Starscream; it only served to make the seeker less willing to listen to him. Pity had no place in Kaon.

They watched each other as Starscream failed to answer. Or at least Starscream watched; Orion Pax looked. The look of someone who had never had to wonder what watching might entail, its keen sense of knowing. He had bright eyes and tense shoulders. He looked not so much like a mech who had no idea where he was, more like a mech who knew he was in too deep. It made Starscream feel less adrift, if he was being honest. He rarely was.

Despite that Pax did not move away. Starscream almost admired him. They had drifted in and out each others' periphery for years, and it took bearings not to flinch when confronted with Starscream's keen gaze. That kind of admirable guts were hard won. Good for Pax, the soft fragger.

"So," Starscream said, trying on a pleasant smile after far too long a pause. "Congratulations are in order, I hear."

Pax looked perturbed.

"You got your audience with the council," Starscream continued after even more of a pause. "What our leader has wished for, all these years. You must be proud."

A half-truth. Megatronus did not so much speak of wanting the council to listen as he spoke of wanting the council gone. No matter what the gentle, kind Pax said, trying to find a less dramatic way forward. Frankly Starscream agreed with Megatronus on this if nothing else; it was hardly as though a council willing to listen would then listen to a flightframe, no matter what good will he had built through his cunning. Starscream had tried such tactics. If he could not make them work, he thought, nobody could. Despite this he could not help but admire Pax's stubborn insistence. Who didn't want to be seen, thought Starscream.

Orion Pax did not respond to his goading as usual, but watched him instead. They had not known each other so much as they had tried to learn each other, two sides of the same coin, fighting over a central point that would never budge. They had played tug-of-war with Megatronus and, Starscream felt, neither had won so far. But even so he felt the stirring of triumph, just from forcing Pax to really pay attention.

Pax stepped forward. "You should come," he said, "and say your piece." It was sincere. Starscream thought, anyway. Pax sounded sincere no matter what he said. For vorns now Pax had all but begged Starscream to come give his views, to lend his silver tongue in the hopes of avoiding war. Megatronus had never asked for such service but of course, he wouldn't, Starscream thought. Pax had been hardened, against his will, but he remained naive. He thought war a bad outcome. Even now.

Starscream stayed smiling. Pax's own dedication faltered in the face of such strength of conviction. He still looked serious, but perhaps it looked less sure of itself as Starscream smiled and smiled and gently shooed him along.

"You know," said Starscream, still smiling, "I simply cannot wait to see what happens when I don't."

Their looks were interrupted by the clang of a door, behind them in the Gladatorial compound. Starscream had found ways to live amongst them long enough to guess it was two, maybe three rooms back. Pax kept his gaze regardless.

"Your council awaits," said Starscream, and when Orion Pax kept staring, he knew he had won. Things were in motion, and for his part, Starscream couldn't wait to see where they landed.


End file.
